Engine degreaser caused this

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stangyellow

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I used an engine degreaser in hopes of removing some engine grime, but was left with a bunch of residue and damage I cannot get rid of. The valve covers appear to be ruined, and I'm not sure if I can bring them back to life. All the aluminum appears to be oxidized and there is a strange residue on everything. I know some of the stainless pieces can be buffed with metal polish but I'm unsure about the rest. :( Please help!
 
Maybe it is just me but I do not use greaser on bare aluminum in the engine bay considering how hot it may get.

I used a designated metal polish on those areas. That may be able to help you bring your metal back.

Try Mothers MAG if you want something quick OTC. I know there are plenty of nice metal polishes in the AG store.

Sorry it didn't come out well :/
 
I use P21s all the time and have never had this happen what degreaser did you use? Did you leave it on for a long time?
 
I'm wondering, was the engine hot when the product was applied to the engine bay? That's the only thing I can think of that might cause this.

Sent from my LG-VM701 using AG Online
 
I believe I used Purple Power. The car was backed out of the garage and parked outside, so it was not hot when the engine was sprayed. It wasn't sitting on the engine for a long amount of time either.
 
Ouch. FWIW, my first step would be a reasonably stiff nylon brush, along with some APC (Megs, Poorboy's Bio...something "known good") diluted at a reasonably strong (i.e. 4:1) ratio. From there, you'll have an idea of what is simply nasty residue, versus damage that needs to be polished or otherwise corrected. Good luck.
 
stangyellow said:
I believe I used Purple Power. The car was backed out of the garage and parked outside, so it was not hot when the engine was sprayed. It wasn't sitting on the engine for a long amount of time either.
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This isn't the first time I've seen and heard about Purple Power causing issues to aluminum, same for Simple Green. People will tend to use these products because they are easily available at any local hardware or department store or they're already under the kitchen sink.

I've owned a lot of polished aluminum in my life including my artificial leg and polished aluminum can and will stain easily.

If all the bright work in your pictures is un-coated, polished aluminum you can undo the damage with enough polishing. Aluminum is porous and how much polishing you're going to have to do and how aggressive you're going to have to get depends upon how deep the staining has penetrated.

Sorry to see what happened to your beautiful engine compartment.


Ouch...


:)
 
Sometimes a light coating of machine oil will make it look better. You can also try never dull to clean it up some. If you have lots of residue sometimes a strong solution of dawn and water will remove it. They key with degreasers is really rinse them well.
 
You never want to use a degreaser on un-coated metals. I'm stating the obvious. Tough lesson to learn. Sorry about the damage.
 
You will have to just re polish it. I've had that happen before. But look on the bright side. After you polish it you will have a very nice and clean engine bay.
 
Some of the metal will be permanently damaged~depending on composition. The cheaper the alloy, the higher the probability. Hidden spots may reappear as time progress.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum...t-aluminum-white-powder-spots.html#post622812

oldmodman said:
Now that you have posted a picture of the problem I am afraid that nothing will eliminate them since they are coming up through the anodizing (or what looks like anodizing, might be some kind of paint).
You will have to remove the parts, have them media blasted and powder coated. I have had to do the exact same refinishing method on marine engines.
Nothing else will eliminate the corrosion coming up through the previous paint, anodize, or whatever coating was used to make those parts look black.
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https://autogeekonline.net/posts/48324/ :goodpost:

Might be easier than al. polish. Less residue on the rough surface.
Never used it myself, but previously fell victim to the alkalinity of PP more times than I'd like to admit. Also used the WD-40 method when I was hacking....spots came back.
 
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I had a fuel leak on my Cougar and it stained the aluminum intake. One night at a cruise night, a guy was looking at my car and we started talking about the fuel staining. He told me to use Scrubbing Bubbles on it. I was a little apprehensive about trying it but I figured it was already screwed up, so I used it and to my surprise it worked great!

I don't know if it will fix the damage from the Purple Power but it's worth a shot.

Good luck!
 
I've stated on here before that if Purple Power Industrial Cleaner is used that extreme caution needs to be observed and you need to read the labels and stay away from certain materials. PPIC can and will eat right through it's own aluminum seal underneath the cap.

http://www.autogeekonline.net/forum/auto-detailing-101/49210-purple-power-degreaser.html

Keep in mind there are a couple of versions of Purple Power APC, so it's important to figure out which one you have.
 
This sort of damage is characteristic of a caustic product containing one of the hydroxide group (almost always sodium or potassium). It takes very little to produce this result. In a high end application like detailing, such a product should never be used - they are cheap, nasty and simply not safe. Unfortunately products are lacking in identification of this sort of detail as it is beyond the understanding of the marketeers. It also leads to misunderstanding in the community with regards to the safety of degreasers in general - for instance, alkaline degreasers relying on silicates are often totally safe on aluminium.

I did initially complain about the MSDS but I have found several. I do not know exactly which product the OP has but at least some of the MSDS do note a significant content of sodium hydroxide - as mentioned above.

Another example of the hazard posed by this ingredient is trim staining and discolouration. In our tests, this is the primary (although not only) culprit. If you are using a product containing this, you should think again because it is unavoidable that there will be safer products available.
 
Wow, good thing you posted it. I have been using this at FS exclusively on my tires and a bit on the wheel well/underbody with great results. Not anywhere else but it seems it's good that I haven't ventured elsewhere.
 
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